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Detroit-born Casey Kasem, host of 'America's Top 40,' dies at 82

Detroit-born Casey Kasem, whose voice first graced the city's airwaves when he was still in high school but who was best known as radio host of "American Top 40," died Sunday morning. He was 82.

Kasem, who died at a hospital in Gig Harbor, Wash., suffered from a form of dementia, and his three adult children from his first wife fought a bitter legal battle with Kasem's second wife, Jean, over control of his health care in his final months.

He was born Kemal Amin Kasem in Detroit in 1932, the son of Lebanese immigrants who had a small grocery store. His first on-air work was as an intern actor on the Detroit Public Schools' radio station WDTR while attending Northwestern High School.

As a boy, he dreamed of becoming a baseball player. Instead, he covered sports as a member of the radio club at Northwestern, where his interest in broadcasting began.

Acting was another of Kasem’s pursuits. He performed in radio productions of “The Lone Ranger” and “Sergeant Preston of the Yukon” at Detroit’s Wayne State University, where he majored in speech education.

Kasem was drafted by the U.S. Army in 1952 and sent to Korea. He was an announcer and disc jockey on the Armed Forces Radio Network and also coordinated and acted in radio dramas.

"American Top 40," with Kasem's soft, homey voice counting down the hits, was a refuge from shock jocks or the screaming big-city radio voices. It was dependable, broadcast on some 1,000 stations at its peak, so if you were driving in Connecticut or Kansas, California or Kentucky, you could always take a measure of the pop charts with Casey.

Detroit disc jockeys took time Sunday to remember Kasem.

Veteran Detroit disc jockey Lee Alan said he was a Cooley High School student when he listened to Kasem's nighttime radio show, "Casey at the Mic," on WJBK-AM.

"It was a different Casey," Alan toldThe Detroit News. "He was upbeat, fast, loud, exciting and totally different than his later network shows. But he had a phrase that he would repeat all throughout his WJBK Detroit show, 'The cream of the crop till 12 o'clock.' Years later, I took his phrase and used it in every opening theme on my shows. I gave him credit, too."

Robin Seymour, who was on the air as Kasem's competitor on WKMH in the 1950s, described him as "the nicest guy" and close to his family. At the same time, Kasem was "a real aggressive guy" who "really worked hard to get where he got," Seymour said.

Kasem weaved stories around the songs, anecdotes about interactions with fans or gee-whiz tales about how stars got their starts. Seldom was heard a discouraging word, unless it was a starting point for a narrative about coming back from hardship, the darkness before the dawn.

Interspersed in the countdowns were the long-distance dedications, songs played for a long-lost or distant lover in the hope a heart would be stirred. You'd wince at some of the hokey song selections, but only the truly cynic would laugh at the emotion that spilled out of the letters Kasem read.

At the end of the show, always, would come Kasem's signature words of advice: "Keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars."

On the first "American Top 40" in July 1970, Kasem counted down to Three Dog Night's "Mama Told Me Not to Come" at the No. 1 spot. As the years went on, Kasem progressed through disco and punk, arena rock and rap. All were welcome under Casey's big tent.

Kasem spoke out on issues promoting greater understanding of Arab-Americans throughout his life. He made his name as a disc jockey, and when his career blossomed in the Los Angeles area, he took on other voice work. He was Robin in the animated "Batman" series. He once said his work on "Scooby-Doo" would outlast anything he did.

He was succeeded at "American Top 40" in 2004 by Ryan Seacrest, a fan who said he used to imitate Kasem counting down the hits when he was a boy.